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How much time will it take?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Skull, May 26, 2018.

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  1. Skull

    Skull New Member

    Hello Guys:


    I builded a new scrubber the last week and putted it to work, the water is passing through the net perfectly and the device seems to be doing great, it is working like this:

    -16x20 cm, only one side, made inside an acrilyc box.
    -7 leds:
    2 Cree 660nm Photo Red, 1 Semiled 420nm Deep Blue, 2 Reds 630nm, 2 Full Spectrum leds.

    The last four will be replaced by Cree 660nm and Semiled 420nm also, but right now I don't have the Crees and started with the red and full spectrum.
    My Aq is 180L net water, very low bioload (2 fishes and some small corals), have a very big skimmer (rated for 700L), Act. Carbon and PhosphateMinus to reduce PO4.


    My NO3 went from 5ppm to an absolute 0 as soon as I turned on the skimmer, I am not testing PO4 right now, but a Hanna PO4 test is on it's way to my home.
    However, I have some very green nasty hair algae on the upper center of my display, on the reef rocks, and I want them out of there!
    The tank is aimed to be for SPS, with low nutrients, and the small frags I purchased a month ago turned super colored as soon as I introduced them to the tank.

    Scrubber started working one week ago, how much time time do you think will it take until I can see algae on it, and the reduction of my hair algae on the display?


    Thank you guys.


    Steve.
     
  2. It all depends, my latest scrubber I had full growth on the screen in 9 days and I even harvested a few ounces, while my former DIY scrubber was only displaying green growth at day 22+ and I was not harvesting until the 6 week mark.
    It you have provided all the necessary requirements for growth, you will get growth and eventually see a reduction in your DT. But it is going to take time and a lot of patience.
     
  3. Skull

    Skull New Member

    Thank you Tom

    Today I removed the screen net to see what was going on...and I could see a little small brown algae growing on that.
     
  4. Turbo

    Turbo Does not really look like Johnny Carson Staff Member Site Owner Multiple Units! Customer

    There are way too many potential factors to be able to write a blanket "expectation" for everyone, but as long as you roughed up the screen well, you have right amount of flow, and you have the right amount of light (intensity and duration) you should see a slight discoloration within a few days, probably some slime within a week (which should be rinsed away at it tends to inhibit GHA), and some GHA filling in withing 2 weeks.

    This assumes a plain plastic canvas, i.e. no mortar coating and no "seeding" (which doesn't always work)

    A few things to double check:

    Flow: you don't need 35 GPH/in to start, you only need just enough flow such that the water evenly covers the screen as best possible - this will be a lower flow rate, and that's OK. You want it lower initially so that algae can attach. You may never need to increase the flow.

    Light:
    Per this thread Lighting - Best single leds for Scrubbing you are running single sided, which is not the ideal way, but it'll work. What it means is that you might get to the point where the growth is thick, but since you've only got light on one side, the "base" or "roots" of growth will not hold on to the screen as strong and you might either 1) get detachment or 2) have to harvest more frequently.

    Duration and intensity is very dependent on how you built the light and how you placed the light, but generally you want to start out with the lights about 2" or so from the screen (since you have a DIY array) and you must dim or diffuse them until you get a mature screen. Pics would be great here, I might be able to add some comments if I had a visual!
     

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